From the desert Southwest to the shores of the mighty Pacific Ocean and beyond, breathtaking scenes of the natural world are on view in a new show at Maxwell Alexander Galley. Each of the 13 participating artists displays a unique visual take on the landscape. Viewers can expect to see paintings ranging from Ray Roberts’ impressionistic coastal views to Ed Mell’s cubist-style skyscapes. Gallery owner Beau Alexander is enthusiastic about the show, which is titled Terra Firma. “These artists are celebrated as some of the best in the country, and to have them all in one place at one time is truly special,” Alexander says. “Since the earliest times, artists have been striving to re-create the beauty they are surrounded by through their artistic interpretations. This tradition continues to this day.” Among the participating artists are Tony Abeyta, G. Russell Case, Kim Cogan, Jeremy Lipking, Tim Solliday, Vincent Xeus, and Dennis Ziemienski.

Glenn Dean’s RIDERS OF THE RED EARTH, one of the paintings in the show, was inspired by the clouds and skies often seen in the summer months in the desert Southwest, the artist says. The setting for the painting is the Vermillion Cliffs area in Utah and Arizona. “I wanted the riders in the composition to be somewhat silhouetted against the pattern of clouds. I placed them lower on the canvas in order to achieve the effect of an expansive sky, in an expansive landscape,” Dean says. “I was also attracted to the way that the shadow side of the clouds picks up so much of the warm colors of the earth as they float by the red sands of the region.”

Josh Elliott painted TASMAN GLACIER from a sketch he did on location in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park on New Zealand’s south island. Elliott says that the lake that formed at the terminus of the glacier had huge icebergs floating in it, some of which were much larger than a house. “I was struck by the color harmonies of the rock, ice, and water, and I liked the idea of painting a piece that explored those harmonies,” he says.

Matt Smith found inspiration for APACHE CLIFFS, also in the show, during a winter visit to a favorite locale, the Salt River in central Arizona. “The Salt cuts through some of the most beautiful Sonoran Desert that I’ve experienced,” Smith says. “This particular cliff is located above Apache Lake, one of the reservoirs along the river that supplies water to the Phoenix metro area.”

Memories of road trips through the desert of southern Utah inspired Logan Maxwell Hagege’s RAIN CLOUDS. Transparent rain shafts creating intriguing late-afternoon light took root in his imagination. “For me this piece is more of a memory of an amazing sight that I experienced,” Hagege says. “Breaking the desert landscape into these simple patterns helped me clearly translate the snapshot in my mind onto the canvas.” —Bonnie Gangelhoff